Electrode release attachment for arc lamps



y 11 193 F. c. goATEs M. 2 1 5 697 ELECTRODE RELEASE ATTACHMENT FOR ARC LAMPS Filed Sept. 6, 1938 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 FIG. 1.

fiaom a 6. 6047255 A mer 5 fiwzae INVENTOR.

ATT RNEY.

y' l, 1939. F. c. COATES ET AL 2,165,597

ELECTRODE RELEASE ATTACHMENT FOR ARC LAMPS Filed Sept. 6, 1938 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 .MHMHHIW ATTORNEY.

Patented July 11, 1939 SE ATTACHMENT FOR ELECTRODE RELEA ARC Fielding 0. Coates and geles, Calif., assignors t Los Angeles, Calif., California LAMPS Henry S.

Fowler, Los An- Mole-Richardson 00., limited partnership of Application September 6, 1938, Serial No. 228,612

ment which may be readily and easily installed on a common type of arc lamp.

Other objects and advantages of our invention will be apparent from a study of the following specifications, read in connection with the accompanying drawings, wherein 8 Claims.

Our invention relates to an improved electrode release attachment for are lamps and has particular utility when employed with arc lamps of the type wherein the electrode is continuously rotated and advanced during operation.

Arc lamps of the type for which the subject matter of this invention is adapted for use, either one or both electrodes are continuously rotated during operation of the lamp. An example of this type of arc lamp is disclosed in the United States patent to Elmer 0. Richardson, Patent No. 2,060,347.

Release mechanisms have been devised to free the electrode from the feeding wheels employed in said lamps, but none of these devices has been of the attachment type and so constructed as toprovide either or both manual or automatic means for effecting the positive disengagement of the release and the reengagement of the feeding means whenever the lamp is started up after a change of electrodes.

In order to equip an arc lamp of a common type employing rotating electrodes and electrode feeding means with a release device of the character now well known in the art, it is necessary to dismantle the lamp, bore out the electrode holding sleeve so that a sliding sleeve may be interposed between said electrode and the electrode holding sleeve and rebuild the mounting of the electrode feeding means.

It is therefore a primary object of our invention to provide an electrode release attachment which may be installed on an arc lamp of the type previously described and with only minor changes in the arc lamp.

It is also an object of our invention to provide an electrode release attachment, for use with an arc lamp which employs a rotating electrode, of such type that operation of the lamp will cause automatic reengagement of the electrode feeding device incorporated in the lamp.

It is a further object of our invention to provide an electrode release attachment of the character set forth, which is always accessible for operation regardless of the position of the lamp mechanism at the time the lamp is taken out of service.

It is an additional object of our invention to provide an electrode release attachment for arc lamps of the character set forth, which is positive in its action.

It is also an object of our invention to effect a saving of time and money with respect to the installation of an electrode release device for are lamps by providing an electrode release attach- Fig.

1 is an elevation partly in section of an electrode rotating and feeding mechanism of a common type similar to that illustrated in the United States patent to Richardson, Patent No.

2,060,347, and showing the addition of the electrode release device of my invention;

Fig.

2 is a perspective view of a part of the release mechanism;

3 is a transverse section taken along the line IIIIII of Fig. 1, illustrating the electrode release installed on an arc lamp of the previously described type; and

Fig. 4 is a transverse section similar to Fig. 3 but showing the relationship of the parts when the device is operated to release the electrode.

In Fig. 1 we have illustrated a portion of a common type of electrode feeding mechanism employed on an arc lamp as including a suitable gear housing 5 in which is rotatably supported on a sleeve 6 adapted to be rotated by An electrode 1 is inserted in the sleeve 6 and is arranged to be rotated thereby and continuously fed forwardly by means of electrode feeding gears 8 and 9.

In the conventional type of electrode feeding mechanisms, the feeding gears 8 and 9 are rotatably supported upon relatively long shafts which are carried by bearing brackets l9 and II permanently attached to a face plate [2 carried by the sleeve 6. The bearing brackets l9 and II are slotted, as indicated at l3 and [4, so that the feeding gear shafts may be moved outwardly away from the electrode 1 in order to disengage the feeding gears 8 and 9 therefrom to allow ready removal of the electrode.

In the present devices, tension springs are exbetween the feeding gear shafts and contended nected at the extending ends thereof in order to urge the electrode feeding gears 8 and 9 into positive engagement with the electrode 1. In the present invention, however, we prefer to remove the springs from these shafts and extend them, as indicated at [5 and [6 in Fig. 3, between semicircular plates l1 and I8 and suitably attach them thereto. 7 While the long shafts employed on arc lamps of this character may be retained, we

prefer and 29 to replace them with shorter shafts !9 which are of a length just sufficient to extend through the bearing brackets l9 and H. The springs l5 and I6 and the semi-circular plates I! and I8 operate to force the electrode feeding gears 8 and 9 into positive engagement with the electrode 7 in a manner which will now be described.

Reference to Fig. 3, and to Fig. 2 in which is illustrated one of the pair of semi-circular plates employed, will show that each of the plates is provided on the front surface and at the outer edge with a stiffening flange 2! and a central recess 22. The recess 22 includes three portions, a lowermost portion 23 comprising a slot through which the electrode feeding gear 9extends, a central portion 24 which provides an aperture of sufiicient width to accommodate the shafts l9 and 20, and an upper portion 25 which is of sulficient width to pass the enlarged portion of the bearing brackets l9 and H.

The transition between the relatively narrow lower portion 23' and the central portion 24 provides faces 26, which are adapted to bear upon the ends of the shaft 20. The plate IB is provided with a pair of forwardly extending pins 27 and 28 suitably grooved, as indicated at 29 and 3D, for the retention of the tension springs l5 and it. The complementary semi-circular plate I! is a duplicate of the plate It just described.

The body portions of the semi-circular plates l1 and it! are preferably made slightly thinner than the diameter of the shafts I9 and 29 so that the plates may slide freely in the slots l3 and M. Itwill be seen that the tension springs l5 and I6 slide the plates I7 and I 8 in the slots l3 and M and force the faces ZE-of the plates H and It against the shafts l9 and 29 so as to force the electrode feeding gears 8 and 9 into positive engagement with the electrode 1.

It will be seen that in order to release the electrode 1 from the feeding gears 8 and 9 it is only.

necessary to relieve the pressure upon the shafts l9 and 29. In order to readily accomplish this release, we provide a cam lever 3! on each of the plates and a pressure face 92 adapted to be engaged by the cam lever 3| of the complementary plate. Cam lever Si is rotatably attached to the plate as by means of a suitable pin 33 so that rotation of 'either of these levers 3! in a counterclockwise direction, as viewed in Figs. 3 and 4, will wedge the plates I1 and I8 away from each other. This will then disengage the faces 26 of the plates I l and I8 from the shafts l9 and 29 upon which they bear so as to release the electrode 1 from the gripping action of the feeding gears 8 and 9.

Cam levers 3i are preferably shaped and disposed upon the plates H and 48 in such fashion that after replacing the electrode 1, should an operator start the operation of the lamp and cause the feeding mechanism to rotate in the forward direction, such direction being as indi cated by arrow 34 in Fig. 4, the cam lever 3! will engage an adjacent portion 35 of the gear housing 5, (for example, the heat shield bracket) and rotate the cam lever 3| in a direction opposite to the direction of rotation required for the release of the electrode and allow the tension springs 35 and [6 to bring the plates together and force the electrode feeding gears 8 and 9 into engagement with the electrode 1.

Inasmuch as the engagement of the outer edges of the semi-circular plates I I and I8 with the slots I3 and M will prevent any movement thereof in the direction of the axis of the electrode 'l, and inasmuch as the tension springs l5 and I6 exert their force in a plane forward of the plane of the plate, there is a tendency developed to force the adjacent edges of the plates l7 and I8 toward the face plate l2.

We provide a means for preventing this movement so as to prevent the plates binding in the slots l3 and id and interfering with the satisfactory operation of the device. This means includes suitable projections 36 which may be formed by riveting the pins 33 where they extend through theplates Ill and 58. We provide similar projections Bl which are located in a position complementary to the projections 35. It is seen that the force of the tension springs l5 and i6 will cause the projections 36 and 3? to bear upon the face plate l 2 so as to hold the plates I7 and it in accurate alignment with the slots l3 and I4 with which they are engaged.

From the foregoing description it will be noted that in order to equip a standard arc lamp of the type described with the electrode release attachment of our invention, it is only necessary to substitute the short shafts l9 and 29 for the long shafts ordinarily employed for rotatably supporting the feeding gears 8 and 9, slide the semicircular plates Ill and it into their proper positions, as illustrated, and attach the tension springs (which were previously extended between the electrode feeding gear shafts) to the pins provided on the semi-circular plates H and i8.

It will be seen that this method of adapting a conventional type of arc lamp for ready release of the electrodes employed is materially simpler. than the methods previously employed, in which it was necessary to dismantle the lamp, bore out the sleeve 6 so that a sliding sleeve could be inserted between the sleeve 6 and the electrode '5, and rebuild the mounting of the electrode feeding gears 8 and 9.

It will also be noted that by providing a pair of cam levers for the operation of the device, that one or the other of the levers will always be accessible to the operator when it is desired to renew the electrodes of the lamp, and further that an attempt to place the lamp in operation inadvertently will not cause any damage to the lamp but will automatically place the electrode feeding mechanism operation.

It will be further noted that the device of our invention possesses, in addition to its simplicity of manufacture installation, most of the advantages of the release mechanisms in current use, namely, positive release, positive re--engagemerit of the feeding mechanism upon the installation of a new electrode, and automatic re-engagement of the feeding it echanism whenever it is attempted to operate the lamp without manually re-engaging the feeding mechanism.

While we have shown and described the preferred embodiment of our invention, we do desire to be limited to any of the details of construction shown or described herein, except as defined in the appended claims.

We claim:

1. In an arc lamp which includes an electrode rotatable about its longitudinal axis, electrode feed wheels, and a means mounting said feed wheels for movement toward and away from said electrode, the combination of: a resilient means engageable with said feed wheels for normally urging said feed wheels into engagement with said electrode; and a control means coupled to said resilient means and manually operable to disengage said resilient means from said feed wheels, and automatically operably responsive to rotation of said electrode to re-engage said resilient means with said feed wheels.

2. In an electrode release attachment for an arc lamp which includes an electrode, an electrode carrier, electrode feed wheels, shafts rotatably supporting said feed wheels, and means mounting said feed wheels for movement toward and away from said electrode, the combination of: a plurality of moveable members, each engaging one of said shafts; resilient means coupled to said members for normally urging said feed wheels into engagement with said electrode; and a plurality of control means, each independently manually operable to move said members out of engagement with said shafts.

3. In an electrode release attachment for an arc lamp which includes an electrode, a rotatable electrode carrier supporting said electrode for rotation about its longitudinal axis, electrode feeding wheels, shafts rotatably supporting said feed wheels, and means mounting said feed wheels on said carrier for movement toward and away from said electrode, the combination of: a plurality of moveable members, each engaging one of said shafts; resilient means coupled to said members for normally urging said feed wheels into engagement with said electrode; and a control means naturally operable to move said members out of engagement with said shafts, and automatically operably responsive to rotation of said electrode for moving said members into engagement with said shafts.

4. In an electrode release attachment for an arc lamp which includes an electrode, a rotatable electrode carrier supporting said electrode for rotation about its longitudinal axis, electrode feeding wheels, shafts rotatably supporting said feed wheels, and means mounting said feed wheels on said carrier for movement toward and away from said electrode, the combination of: a plurality of moveable members, each engaging one of said shafts; resilient means coupled to said members for normally urging said feed wheels into engagement with said electrode; a control means manually moveable in one direction to move said members out of engagement with said shafts; and means automatically operably responsive to rotation of said electrode to move said control means in another direction to move said members into engagement with said shafts.

5. In an electrode release attachment for an arc lamp which includes an electrode, an electrode carrier supporting said electrode, electrode feeding wheels, shafts rotatably supporting said feed wheels, and bracket means having slots therein engaging said shafts to mount said feed wheels on said carrier for movement toward and away from said electrode, the combination of: a pair of moveable plate members, each inserted in said slots and engageable with said shafts; resilient means extending between said plate members normally urging said feed wheels into engagement with said electrode; and a cam member rotatably secured to one of said plates and arranged to engage the other of said plates upon rotation thereof for moving said plates out of engagement with said shafts.

6. In an electrode release attachment for an are lamp which includes an electrode, an electrode carrier for supporting Said electrode, electrode feeding wheels, bracket means having slots therein and supported by said carrier, and shafts carried in said slots rotatably supporting said feeding wheels for slidable movement toward and away from said electrode, the combination of: a pair of moveable plate members disposed on opposite sides of said electrode and inserted in said slots and engageable with said shafts; resilient means normally urging said plate members toward each other for forcing said feeding wheels into engagement with said electrode; and a cam member rotatably supported upon each of said plate members in such position as to engage the other of said plate members upon rotation for moving said plate members away from each other.

7. In an electrode release attachment for an arc lamp which includes an electrode, a rotatable electrode carrier supporting said electrode for rotation about its longitudinal axis, a frame member rotatably supporting said electrode carrier, electrode feeding wheels, bracket means having slots therein and carried by said rotatable electrode carrier, and shafts carried in said slots rotatably mounting said feeding wheels for slidable movement toward and away from said electrode, the combination of: a pair of movable plate members disposed on opposite sides of said electrode and inserted in said slots and engageable with said shafts; resilient means normally urging said plate members toward each other ior forcing said feeding wheels into engagement with said electrode; and a cam member interengaging both of said plate members and manually operable to move said plate members away from each other.

8. In an electrode release attachment for an arc lamp which includes an electrode, a rotatable electrode carrier supporting said electrode for rotation about its longitudinal axis, a frame member rotatably supporting said electrode carrier, electrode feeding wheels, bracket means having slots therein and carried by said rotatable electrode carrier, and shafts carried in said slots rotatably mounting said feeding wheels, the combination of: a pair of moveable plate members disposed on opposite sides of said electrode and inserted in said slots and engageable with said shafts; resilient means normally urging said plate members toward each other for forcing said feeding wheels into engagement with said electrode; a cam member rotatably secured to one of said plate members and arranged to engage the other of said plate members upon rotation thereof from an electrode engaging position to an electrode releasing position for moving said plate members out of engagement with said shafts; and a lever attached to said cam member and arranged, when in said electrode releasing position, to engage said frame member upon rotation of said electrode carrier to rotate said cam member to said electrode engaging position to move said members into engagement with said shafts.

FIELDING C. COATES. HENRY S. FOWLER. 

